Sharing content online has become an integral part of the digital experience. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest allow users to easily share posts with their friends and followers with just a click of a button. However, many websites do not have visible social media share buttons. So how do you go about sharing content when there is no apparent share option available?
Why Share Buttons are Important
Share buttons play a crucial role in content distribution and engagement. Here are some of the benefits of having visible share buttons on webpages:
- Increased distribution – Share buttons allow readers to easily broadcast content to their social networks. This helps expand the reach of content.
- Improved engagement – Share buttons help facilitate discussions around content, leading to more comments, likes, and overall engagement.
- SEO value – Social shares are recognized by search engines as signals of popularity. More shares can potentially boost a webpage’s search ranking.
- Brand awareness – Readers sharing content they find interesting helps increase brand visibility and website traffic.
- Lead generation – Sharing can direct new audiences back to your website where they may convert into leads and customers.
Clearly, share buttons are very useful for both visitors and website owners. So what can you do when they are not available?
Copying the URL
The most straightforward way to share content without a share button is to manually copy and paste the URL. Here are step-by-step instructions:
- Highlight the URL in the address bar of your browser.
- Right click and select ‘Copy’ or press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on Mac) to copy the URL.
- Go to the social media platform where you want to share it. This could be on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest etc.
- Paste the copied URL into the post editor using right click + Paste or Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac).
- You can add your own text introduction before pasting the link.
- Share the post to distribute to your friends, followers or social community.
This manual copy-paste of URLs may seem tedious but it works reliably in the absence of share buttons. However, there are also some quick shortcuts available.
Browser Extensions
Browser extensions can enable sharing from any webpage even if it has no visible share buttons. Extensions like Shareaholic and AddThis add a sharing toolbar to your browser. Once installed you can simply click to share any link directly from the browser interface.
Here are some popular sharing extensions for major browsers:
- Shareaholic – Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Safari
- AddThis – Chrome, Firefox, Safari
- Share Extensions – Chrome, Firefox
- Send To menu – Firefox
- ShareVia – Safari
The advantage of using extensions is that you don’t have to manually copy/paste URLs for sharing. It enables seamless one-click sharing from any webpage.
Using Clipboard Managers
Clipboard manager software provides another shortcut to quickly share links without share buttons. These tools allow you to save multiple items including text, images and links to a persistent on-screen clipboard. You can then easily paste saved clipboard items when needed.
Some popular clipboard managers include:
- Ditto Clipboard Manager (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- 1Clipboard (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android)
- CopyQ (Windows, Mac, Linux)
- ClipMenu (Mac)
- ArsClip (Mac)
- ClipboardFusion (Windows)
To share a link using your clipboard manager:
- Copy the URL from the address bar
- Paste it into your clipboard manager to save
- When you want to share, simply paste the link from your clipboard manager into social media
This makes it easy to quickly retrieve and share links you’ve recently copied without having to re-copy each time.
Using Mobile Workarounds
On mobile devices it may be difficult to manually copy URLs, especially on iPhone which does not display the address bar. Here are some workarounds for mobile sharing:
- Share Extensions – Apps like ShareExtender for iOS Safari add a sharing pop up to mobile browsers.
- Link Shorteners – Copy a short bit.ly link instead of long URLs for easier sharing.
- Read Later Apps – Save links to apps like Pocket and share later from the app interface.
- QR Codes – Generate a QR code of the link to easily scan and share from mobile.
- Mobile Browsers – Firefox for iOS has URL sharing from the menu.
The above methods can help you overcome the limitations of mobile browsers and interfaces when share buttons are missing.
Using Web Applications
An alternate solution is to use web applications that allow sharing content even from pages that don’t have visible share buttons. For example:
- Buffer – This social media management tool lets you share webpages from the Buffer interface or browser extensions.
- Pocket – Add webpages to your Pocket account to access and share from anywhere.
- Wallabag – This read-it-later app allows sharing archived webpages.
- Telegram – Instantly share webpages to your Telegram contacts or saved messages.
- PrintFriendly – Lets you print webpages in a shareable PDF format.
Rather than navigating individual social media platforms, you can directly share content to multiple networks from these web apps in just a few clicks.
Using Native Device Functionality
Modern desktop and mobile operating systems also have built-in functionality to share content:
- Share Menu – Right click a link on Mac and select Share to share it anywhere.
- Share Sheet – On iOS, press the share icon in Safari to share a webpage.
- Link Sharing – On Android, tap the 3-dot menu on Chrome and select Share to share a link.
- Clipboard Sharing – On Windows, copy a link and paste in social media from clipboard history.
Make use of your device’s native sharing capabilities from right-click menus, share sheets or clipboard managers.
Using Browser Tabs
You can share webpages directly from browser tabs in Chrome, Firefox and Safari:
- Right click on the tab and look for a Share option.
- Select the social network, draft your message and post.
- You can also drag and drop tabs into social media for quick sharing.
For example, in Firefox you can right click a tab and select Copy Link to Clipboard or Email Link… to easily share the open webpage.
Sharing Directly from Social Media Apps
Many social networks allow posting a link directly from their app interface without needing a visible button:
- Tap Photo/Video when creating a new post
- Select the Link option
- Paste in the website URL to share
- Tap the icon to compose a new tweet
- Paste the website URL into the tweet text
- The link will automatically render as a card
- Tap the + button to create a new Pin
- Select the website link option
- Enter the URL to generate a shareable Pin
- Tap Share an article when creating a new post
- Paste in the link to share it
- Paste the URL into a chat window
- It will automatically become a tappable WhatsApp link
So you can easily post links directly from most social apps even without share buttons on the source webpage.
Using Third-Party Sharing Tools
Dedicated link sharing tools are another option that let you share content without on-page share buttons:
- AddtoAny – Browser bookmarklet for sharing to 130+ networks
- ShareThis – Plugin to enable sharing from any webpage
- RePost – Free bookmarklet to share webpages quickly
- Click2Tweet – Bookmarklet to share quote images on Twitter
- AddLink – Lets you generate social share links
These tools inject share buttons on any page or provide specialized interfaces for quick sharing.
Using Web Browser Sharing
Most web browsers also allow sharing webpages from the toolbar without visible buttons:
Chrome
- Click the 3-dot menu icon next to the address bar
- Go to More Tools > Create link to share
- This will generate a URL you can share anywhere
Safari
- Click the Share button denoted by a box with an arrow
- Choose the sharing option you want
Firefox
- Click the Page actions menu denoted by 3 horizontal lines
- Select the Share option
- Choose the app you want to share it on
Edge
- Click the Share button denoted by a bow-tie symbol
- Select the social platform to share it
So all the major web browsers provide integrated sharing capabilities you can utilize as well.
Using Operating System Sharing
The desktop or mobile operating system you use likely also provides native options to share webpages:
Windows
- Right click a link and select Copy link address
- Paste the URL in social media to share
Mac
- Right click a link and select Services > Share
- Choose the sharing platform
iOS
- Tap and hold the link, then tap Share
- Select the app to share it
Android
- Press and hold a link, then tap Share link
- Choose the sharing application
Almost any desktop or mobile platform lets you share links with built-in context menu options.
Using Link Shorteners
Link shortening services like bit.ly and TinyURL provide another way to share long links:
- Go to a link shortener site and paste the long URL
- Generate a shorter version of the link
- Copy and share the shortened link instead
The key benefits of shortened links:
- Makes it easy to manually share long URLs
- Takes up less space when sharing on social media posts
- Cleaner tracking of clicks with link statistics
Popular options for shortening links include:
- bit.ly
- TinyURL
- goo.gl
- ow.ly
- is.gd
Just be sure the service you use is safe and your shortened links don’t misdirect users.
Using QR Codes
QR codes present another unique way to share links without buttons:
- Go to a QR code generator like qr-code-generator.com
- Paste in the URL to convert into a scannable code
- Download the generated QR image
- Share the code image from social media or print it out
Recipients can then simply scan the QR code with their phone camera to open the link. QR codes make it easy to share URLs in a visual graphic format.
Using Browser Extensions
Here are some specific browser extensions that enable quick sharing of links:
Chrome
- Share Extensions
- Quick Share
- Share Sheet
- Shareaholic
Firefox
- Share Backported
- Open Share 2
- Foxishare
- ShareIt
Safari
- ShareSuite
- Shareaholic
- Share & Fast Share
Edge
- Share to Social
- Shareaholic
- Quick Share
These handy extensions will enable one-click sharing from any page in your browser.
Using a Manual Copy + Paste Workflow
As a final fallback, you can always manually copy and paste URLs to share:
- Copy the page URL from the address bar
- Go to your social network, email etc. where you want to share
- Paste the copied link into the post editor
- Add your own text introduction before the paste
- Share the update to distribute the link
While slightly tedious, this ensures you can share content from any website even without visible buttons.
Conclusion
While share buttons make it easy to spread content, their absence does not have to limit your ability to share online. Using the various techniques outlined here – browser extensions, native apps, web services, QR codes and more – you can share content from any webpage through clever workarounds.
So next time you come across an interesting article or page with no visible share button, don’t let that stop you from spreading it far and wide on your social networks. With clipboard managers, O/S sharing, extension tools and quick mobile/desktop tricks, you have all that you need to share even without dedicated share buttons.